Yogmaya Temple: Difference between revisions

{{Use dmy dates|date=March 2019}}

'''Yogmaya Temple''', also  '''Jogmaya temple''', is a [[Hindu temple]] [[Shakti Peetha]] dedicated to the goddess [[Yogmaya]], also considered to be a sister of [[Krishna]] as she took [[avatar]] as [[Vindhyavasini]], and situated in [[Mehrauli]], [[New Delhi, India]], close to the [[Qutb complex]]. According to local priests and native records, this is one of those 27 temples destroyed by [[Mahmud of Ghazni|Mahmud Ghazni]] and later by [[Delhi Sultanate|Mamluks]] and it is the only surviving temple belonging to pre-sultanate period which is still in use. Hindu king [[Hemu|Samrat Vikramaditya Hemu]] reconstructed the temple and brought back the temple from ruins. During [[Aurangzeb]]'s reign a rectangular Islamic Style hall was added to the temple. Though its original (300-200 BC) architecture could never be restored after its destruction by Islamic rulers, but its reconstruction had been carried out repetitively by the locals.

The temple rebuilt in 1827 is a simple but contemporary structure with an entrance hall and a sanctum sanctorum that houses the main Idol of Yogmaya made of black stone placed in a marble well of {{convert|2|ft|m|abbr=on|1}} width and {{convert|1|ft|m|abbr=on|1}}  depth. The sanctum is {{convert|17|ft|m|abbr=on|1}} square with a flat roof over which a truncated [[shikara]] (tower) is built. Apart from this tower, a dome is the other feature seen in the temple (pictured). The idol is covered in sequins and cloth. Two small [[pankha]]s (fans) of the same materials are seen suspended over the Idol from the roof. The walled enclosure around the temple is {{convert|400|ft|m|abbr=on|1}} square, with towers at the four corners. Twenty two towers were built within the precincts of the temple at the orders of the Sood Mal, the builder. The floor of the temple was originally made of red stone but since then has been replaced by marble. The main tower above the sanctum is {{convert|42|ft|m|abbr=on|1}} high and has copper plated shikara or [[pinnacle]].<ref name= smith>{{Cite book|author=R.V.Smith|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=cN7-8ZwviRgC&q=yogmaya+temple&pg=PA15|title=The Delhi that no-one knows|access-date=2009-05-05|pages =19–23|publisher= Orient Blackswan|year=2005|isbn=978-81-8028-020-7}}</ref><ref name=phool>{{Cite web|url=http://www.india9.com/i9show/-Delhi/New-Delhi/Phoolwalon-Ki-Sair-37493.htm|title= Phoolwalon Ki Sair|access-date=2009-05-05}}</ref><ref name=baksi>{{Cite book|author=S.R.Bakshi|title= Delhi Through Ages|access-date=2009-05-07|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=roNH68bxCX4C&q=Yogamaya+Temple+in+Delhi&pg=PA95|publisher= Anmol Publications PVT. LTD|year=1995|isbn=9788174881380}}</ref>

It is believed that the main idol in the temple was that of Yogamaya ( daughter of [[Yashoda]]), an incarnation of [[Durga]], born as the sister of [[Krishna]]. [[Kamsa|Kansa]], cousin of [[Devaki]] (mother of Krishna) and uncle of Yogamaya and Kansa attempted to kill Yogamaya on Krishna [[Janmastami]] day when Krishna was born. But Yogamaya, who was cleverly substituted for Krishna, vanished after predicting Kansa's death at the hands of her brother Krishna.<ref name= smith/><ref name="phool"/><ref name=baksi/>

Another folk legend is that of Mughal Emperor [[Akbar II]]'s (r. 1806-1837) association with the temple. His wife was distraught at the incarceration and exile of her son [[Mirza]] [[Jehangir]] who had fired from a [[Red Fort]] window at the then British Resident that had resulted in the killing of the bodyguard. Yogamaya had appeared in her dream and the Queen praying for her son's safe return had vowed to place [[Punkah]] made of flowers at the Yogmaya temple and in the nearby [[Muslim]] shrine of Qutbuddin Bhaktiar Khaki. This practice set since then is continued to this day in the name of [[Phool Walon Ki Sair]], a festival held for three days during October every year.<ref name= smith/><ref name=phool/>

[[File:Panka (fan) over the Idol of Yogmaya in the sanctum.JPG|thumb|One of two [[punkah]] suspended in the sanctum above the idol of Yogmaya: one inscribed [[Delhi]] and the other inscribed [[Haryana]], during [[Phool Walon Ki Sair]], a syncretic festival of [[Hindus]] and [[Muslims]] held in October every year in [[Mehrauli]]]]